Alexander Keene Richards

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Well known animal artist Edward Troye accompanied Richards on his second trip to the desert. There Troye made sketches and later converted them to oil paintings. Troye’s painting of Mokhladi is
of special interest as it portrays Richards in desert attire. The painting sold at a 2004 Sotheby’s auction for $344,000. Richards helped Troye win his reputation as a highly respected artist by providing a home and a studio (in a converted horse barn) at Blue Grass Park.

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In the late 1860s, a visitor to Richards’ Blue Grass Park commented on Fysaul
(sometimes spelled Fysel or Fysal), a stallion in the second importation: “ … very thin in flesh and light of body. His head, eye, limbs, and ears all denote his purity. Many of his get are superb saddle horses and a few of them in the second generation are promising on the turf.” Richards described Fysaul: “This horse Fysaul is of the pure Sacklowie race. He is a rich chestnut with one white foot. He is four years old passed, and is now being used for my own stock in Louisiana.” The mare in the photo is probably Lulie, a grey mare bred by the Anazeh, included in Richards’ second importation.

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Hamdan, a two-year-old colt at the time of his importation, was bought on Richards’ second trip to the desert. His note on the colt reads: “Grey colt — two years old — from Nejd, of the pure ‘Koheyl’ race — purchased from the Sheik of the Rouibah tribe of the Bedouins, in whose family the stock has been kept pure for more than 300 years.” Hamdan was sold to Dr. George A. Feris in Texas and earned much approval for Arabians and their siring ability.

by Mary Jane Parkinson

We think of Randolph Huntington, Spencer Borden, Homer Davenport, and others as early importers of Arabian horses, but Alexander Keene Richards imported them as much as half a century earlier.

Mr. Richards (usually known as A. Keene Richards) lived the life of a wealthy, respected, well educated, well-spoken, and successful Thoroughbred breeder at Blue Grass Park, his farm near Georgetown, Kentucky. He was not one to sit and rock on the front porch of his home and contemplate the blue grass.

His curiosity had him puzzling about the long-term influence of Arabian blood on the Thoroughbred and, in 1851, he hied himself off to Europe to get some first-hand answers. In England particularly he studied the use of Arabian stallions (the Darley, the Byerley, and the Godolphin) on English mares. Through his studies, he found the current English horses to be sadly in need of a new infusion of Arabian blood. With that insight, and his study of horses in several other European and Asian countries and Egypt, Richards determined to go on to the desert to see for himself the quality of desert-bred Arabians that might be obtained. With that trip he became the first American to travel to the desert for the purpose of buying Arabians. The journey went fairly well until Richards and his fellow travelers arrived in Syria. There Richards became ill, delaying the trip by several months.

In the desert, Richards bought two Arabian stallions, Mokhladi and Massoud, and a mare Sadah. He trained a dromedary to saddle for his personal mount and, for fun and recreation, frequently competed in the local camel races. Back home, he carefully chose his top Thoroughbred mares to breed to Mokhladi and Massoud. The mares produced show winners, beating Thoroughbreds in yearling competition, but later on they did not show the improvement he hoped for in racing speed. He also bred Mokhladi to Sadah, thus becoming the first American breeder of purebred Arabians — with the smallest possible breeding program.

Almost as soon as his imports arrived at Blue Grass Park, Mr. Richards began planning a second visit to the desert. This time (1855) he took with him his cousin Morris Richards and an artist friend Edward Troye so that Troye might create paintings of the desert scenes and, with his knowledge of equine anatomy, aid in selecting animals for purchase. Richards’ two-year-long planning period did not assure success. The Syrian servant Yusef Bedra who was to serve as a guide and interpreter in the desert became suddenly ill and died. That meant a delay as Richards was dependent on the young man to negotiate with the desert sheikhs. So Richards and his fellow travelers spent some months learning the Arabic language.

In Damascus, Richards contacted Sheikh Midjuel el Mezrab of the Anazeh tribe. The sheikh was married to Lady Jane Digby of England (Lady Ellenborough), and when Lady Anne Blunt and her husband Wilfrid Scawen Blunt traveled that area several decades later, they were guests at the sheikh’s luxurious home. Sheikh Midjuel escorted the Richards party on to Palmyra, a distance of about 150 miles, and somehow managed to avoid contact with the Shammar tribe with which he was currently feuding, probably thereby saving his head. In Egypt, Richards saved a different kind of head — the mummified head of a former Egyptian queen.

This time, Richards brought back from the desert two stallions, a colt, a mare, and two dromedaries. He began to hear some praise for his efforts, but generally Arabians in the United States were not well known for their versatility and usefulness during those years, and they had to prove themselves.

Then there began the rumbles that threatened a civil war in the United States. In 1861 the battles began. “Damnyankees at the gate.” Richards joined the Confederate Army, attained the rank of an officer, and fought at the battle of Shiloh.

Blue Grass Park was damaged if not destroyed, and the horses were sold, some at public auction. Although some considered Richards’ experiment a failure, others believed he was justified in his Arabian enterprise. But it was too close in time, both in years and in horse generations for it to be fairly evaluated.

Richards died at Blue Grass Park in January 1881, age 54. He’d spent his fortune on his horse breeding experiments, but through those experiments, he’d provided examples for future breeders — examples that later led to the popular use of Arabian blood to benefit other breeds.

Here are some bits of wisdom and some observations of A. Keene Richards’s life and adventures.

Having inherited a love and admiration for the horse, and a desire to possess the highest bred and noblest type of his race, I determined to examine for myself the most authentic history of the horse and, without prejudice, select from the stock I preferred — whether it might be at home or abroad — from the aristocratic paddocks of England, the mountains of Morocco, the sandy plains of the Sahara, or the rocky deserts of Arabia. — A. Keene Richards

Mr. Richards, as you suppose, was a well-informed and traveled gentleman, with pleasant manners, and a fine conversation. At his death, he left a widow, and three daughters. Two daughters married. — Mr. Richards’ cousin Morris Richards who was a part of the second journey to the desert.

Faithful portraits of three of my stallions are introduced in this pamphlet and, those who are judges of form, can see for themselves and compare their opinions with other importations. The portraits are photographed by Elrod of Lexington, Kentucky, from sketches by that eminent artist Edward Troye. The proportions are strictly correct, and anyone who has the curiosity, may measure the comparative points with any Thoroughbred of known merit. The height of each horse is given accurately, and not in the usual way of measuring part of the stallion’s neck for his height.
— A. Keene Richards, in an introduction to the 1857 pamphlet he produced entitled, “A. Keene Richards’ Arabian Horses Moklhadi, Massoud, and Sacklowie.”

… a gentleman of romantic history, Keene Richards, Esq. — The 1883 description of Richards by a fellow Kentucky breeder, on inspection of a later generation of the Richards imports.

Mr. Richards’ stock looks well and is generally of fine size and sound, and if he fails to get a winner, he has a horse that will command a good price for any purpose. — A visitor to Blue Grass Park after the second importation.